A Work In Progress: Neubrandenburg

Wow. I feel as if I’ve been given a special little gift during my time in Neubrandenburg.

Neubrandenburg is an unpretentious little city in northeastern Germany, 2 hours by bus north of Berlin. According to Wikipedia it was originally founded as a monastery, before being chosen to have a city built up as a “centre” for that area in the mid-13th century. It then became a fairly prominent trade town, trundling along with a mix of rural and industrial. At the end of WW2 much of it was burned down by the approaching “Red Army”(Soviet forces), and post WW2 it became part of the GDR under communist control. Since the end of the communist era there has been a significant decrease in population and much of the agricultural importance of the region has diminished.

The medieval town walls still stand, very impressively and with loads of little half-timbered guard towers("Wiekhaus") built into them, and with four imposing City Gates for which Neubrandenburg claims much of its fame!

Because of the region’s agricultural background the city is surrounded by a lot of “green space” and has a number of large, beautiful lakes nearby and it is, itself, only an hour or so away from the Baltic Sea!

Tollenesee (Lake Tollene)

Part of one of the City Gates, with the spire of the church which is now a concert hall!

The central Marktplaz

Another City Gate(they each had names and I THINK this is the "Neue Gate")

The slightly unfortunate, GDR-era Rathaus(Town Hall)

A number of years ago(6?7?) Ralf Neumann, who grew up in the region and who is a part of the 24-7 Prayer family, decided with a few friends to move to Neubrandenburg, choosing to “live in community” together and hoping to serve and support this ex-communist, economically struggling area.

Over the next few years they developed connections with the locals and created an after-school children’s centre in a particular neighbourhood, named Datzeberg. This neighbourhood had been built during the GDR era purposefully as a new “living area”, with, at the time, quite comfortable apartments (good heating, “new built”, etc). But after the reunification of Germany, much of the employment disappeared and many couldn’t find work, and the flats were considered “old” and “unfashionable”, and the area has become what most people consider a bit of a “ghetto”.

Over the last twenty years, the city has been(what I consider to be) very smart in decreasing the amount of housing by tearing down some buildings and “shrinking” others, and turning some of those spaces into park and community areas, and also they have begun painting some of the grim, grey buildings with lights yellows, greens, blues and reds which brighten the area up amazingly!

But although the area now seems to be quite a pleasant, quiet, suburban area, there is still nearly a 50% unemployment rate, and almost a kind of generational “lack of care”, or lethargy(?) A kind of belief that “this is life and there isn’t much else, so why think there is??”

In the midst of this the Polyux Community(made up of four couples and their families, and some friends or neighbours who have come alongside them in the neighbourhood) continued to develop their children’s centre until it became a Family Centre(“Caribuni”), offering a mum & tots' time, coffee time for the local people to come and connect, a young mums exercise time, after school homework support and activity time(parents are also welcome during this time), and a cooking class/community meal for parents and kids on Wednesdays! Even before these things had fully developed or begun, they had taken a room within the space they had and made it into a Prayer Room, where they meet daily at noon for a communal prayer time, which is also open to anyone who wishes to join.

They are ALSO involved in running an afternoon “Christian Outreach” program on Fridays, called “Adventureland”, which comprises games, bible stories, crafts and singing, etc, and which is also open to both parents and children.

Its such an incredible little community, and most of these initiatives weren’t really "planned for growth" before they began! The friends just wanted to move into the neighbourhood, love the people around them and see if there were any ways in which they could serve.

They are now continuing to grow in relationships with the people around the neighbourhood, and walking with Katarina Neumann(Ralf’s wife, and an incredibly passionate, gentle, loving lady!) through the “centre” meant stopping every 5 minutes to say hello to someone, hear how they were doing and often hearing of the struggles or difficulties that they would be having, followed by an offer by Katarina to either pray for them there or a promise and invitation to pray with them during their prayer times, and a little cuddle and smile from the 7 month old Ava, who could cheer anyone up! They have become such a beloved part of their neighbourhood its wonderful to see how everyone greets them, waves or comes to give them a hug, and in many ways, they and their community are pastoring an entire “housing estate”!

I just really enjoyed my time with them there! They are a community of people that I had heard of 5 or 6 years ago and who I had always wanted to visit, picturing the town as a dim, depressive “cement jungle” left hopeless by the communist era. Instead, I found a gentle, loving community who slowly but surely is breathing life into an entire neighbourhood.

I did find it felt like there was a kind of lack of hope there, in that they’ve kind of forgotten what "hope" for anything outside their immediate lives, is, and so almost don’t miss it, while at the same time continue to struggle with the daily challenges of health, children, disfunction within marriages and boredom, but I also found a small, genuine example of hospitable community, sincerely caring for one another and with an open-hearted giving towards one another....and seeing that, I’m not surprised in the least at how more and more people want to connect and become involved with Caribuni and the Polyux guys! Their challenge now is how to grow with minimal resources of either people or finances, and how to grow naturally within the needs of the community. Datzeberg doesn’t need “programs” to then fill with people, the “programs” and initiatives are growing because of the time, love and genuine investment which is happening in the people are creating opportunities to serve and create “spaces of life” within a strange dynamic of “void” and possibility.

I felt like Neubrandenburg was a city ready to live, but not quite able to??? Life there, in one way, is very pleasant. Relaxed, a fairly quiet pace, lots of beauty, most of what you need for shops and things, a theatre, museum, sports park, etc, but not quite enough LIFE to fill it? In some strange, metaphysical or spiritual sense its “short of air”. It has most of what it needs to be an incredible place of beauty and vibrancy, but can’t seem to get quite enough “breath” to breathe.....?

View from Datzeberg towards Neubrandenburg "Zentrum"

Ah well! Either way, I was incredibly blessed by my time with Ralf, Katarina and Ava, and am so grateful that I have been able to meet the rest of the Polyux community. I don’t know how, but I do know that I hope those friendships and connections will continue to grow somehow, along the way!